Talkaboutcuringautism.org
[pic] | |
| |
E-News March 2006
Here is your update on the TACA (TALK ABOUT CURING AUTISM) Group for March 2006 - #1. As always, email your thoughts and/or questions. I want to make this e-newsletter informative for you. Let me know your thoughts on how I can improve it.
If this email is NEW to you and you don't recognize the name... WELCOME! These emails happen two to four times a month for the Southern California autism support group called TACA. As always, email your thoughts and/or questions to tacanow@. I want to make this e-newsletter informative for you. Let me know your thoughts on how I can improve it.
Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) provides general information of interest to the autism community. The information comes from a variety of sources and TACA does not independently verify any of it. The views expressed herein are not necessarily TACA’s. We focus on parent information and support, parent mentoring, dietary intervention, the latest in medical research, special education law, reviews of the latest treatments, and many other topics relating to Autism. Our main goal is to build our community so we can connect, share and support each other. TACA has an official web site at:
In This Month's Edition of TACA e-news:
|1. |Upcoming TACA Costa Mesa schedule & other TACA meeting schedule info |
|2. |TACA 2005 Accomplishments |
|3. |General News: |
| | |A) |Autism Tsunami |
| | |B) |Two New Installments from Dan Olmsted at UPI |
| | |C) |CDC OBTAINS CHILDREN’S CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS |
| | | |WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT FOR AUTISM STUDY |
| | |D) |Basketball Hero |
| | |E) |Missing Autistic Boy Found Dead |
| | |F) |Mercury from Power Plants Linked to Autism |
|4. |Vaccine News |
| | |A) |Study Links Autism, Vaccine |
| | |B) |New Study Supports Mercury-Autism Link as Documents Surface |
| | | |Showing CDC’s Refusal to Reduce Mercury Exposure Through Routine Shots in 1999 |
| | |C) |The Mercury Thing |
| | |D) |Evidence of Harm – Now Available in Paperback! NEW LEAKED TRANSCRIPTS, NEW DATA |
| | |E) |Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Time for CDC to Come Clean |
| | | |and commentary from JB Handley |
|5. |TACA Committees – want to be involved? |
|6. |TACA Surveys due – we want to hear from you |
|7. |Vendor Announcements – including McDonalds FRIES announcement |
|8. |Books & Web Sites |
|9. |Fun Activities |
|10. |Conferences |
|11. |Personal Note |
[pic]
|1 |Upcoming TACA Costa Mesa Meeting Schedule: |
| |
| |
| |
|March 11, 2006: |
|Dr Beth Ballinger – Vision issues: Therapy & treatment options for children on the Autism Spectrum |
| |
| |
|Time: 1-4 pm |
|Costs: FREE RSVP Required: NO – just come on down! |
| |
|April 8, 2006: |
|Attorney Bonnie Yates |
| |
| |
|Orange County Regional Center & an important update for all parents who have children on the spectrum (for all ages and anyone who is a current |
|or past consumer of the O.C. Regional Center ) |
|Time: 1-4pm |
|Costs: FREE RSVP Required: NO – just come on down! |
| |
|April 22, 2006: |
|THOUGHTFUL HOUSE MEDICAL SEMINAR – MORE DETAILS COMING SOON! |
| |
| |
|Time: 10am – 3pm |
|Location: Vineyard Newport Church |
|COSTS AND REGISTRATION REQUIRED. More details to be posted soon. |
| |
|May 6, 2006: |
|TACA NEW PARENT SEMINAR – MORE DETAILS COMING SOON! |
| |
| |
|Time: 1 - 4pm |
|Location: Vineyard Newport Church |
|Costs: FAMILY PRICES $28 per person OR $45 per couple |
|PROFESSIONAL PRICES $50 per person |
|RSVP Required: YES. You can register ONLINE off |
|For more information or registration via mail – please see |
|NOTE: Scholarship opportunities are available. |
|Please email tacanow@ to inquire |
| |
|May 13, 2006: |
|TACA Meeting – SOCIAL SKILLS – Presented by Autism Spectrum Consultants, Jessica Postil – MORE DETAILS COMING SOON! |
| |
| |
|Time: 1-4pm |
|Costs: FREE RSVP Required: NO – just come on down! |
| |
|June 10, 2006: |
|“ Autistic-Spectrum Disorders & Medical Treatments – Presentation by Dr. Kurt Woeller - Successful Strategies for Treating Your Child – One |
|DAN! Doctor’s Perspective”. |
| |
| |
|I will discuss the importance of implementing a series of steps to help children biomedically, as well as discuss more in detail specifics to |
|popular treatments, i.e. detoxification, Methyl-B12, testing considerations, pitfalls of treatment, etc |
|Time: 1-4pm |
|Costs: FREE RSVP Required: NO – just come on down! |
| |
|[pic] |
| |
|All Meetings at The Vineyard: 102 E. Baker, Costa Mesa, CA [click here to find a meeting] |
| |
|(Please do not contact the church for meeting details. They have graciously offered use of their facility, but are not affiliated with TACA.) |
|And remember, we are still a non-faith based group! |
|Directions: |
|405 FWY South, Exit Bristol |
|Right on Bristol |
|Left on Baker |
|Go under FREEWAY. |
|The Vineyard Church is on the corner just after the freeway - turn left onto the freeway access road, |
|make FIRST right into the Vineyard's parking lot. |
| |
| |
[pic]
| |TACA Has 7 California Meeting Locations: |
| |
| |
| |
|Costa Mesa: |
| |
| |
|Meets: 2nd Saturday of each month |
|More Info: (info in item #1 for meeting topics and details) CLICK HERE TO FIND A MEETING |
| |
|West Hills: |
| |
| |
|Meets: 1st Sunday of every month, |
|Time: 7-9 p.m. |
|Location: Jumping Genius – 22750 Roscoe Blvd., West Hills |
|(the corner of Roscoe Blvd. & Fallbrook Ave.) |
|info: moira@ |
|March 5, 2006 – speaker to be announced |
|April 2, 2006 Starting the biomedical journey Presented by: Lisa Ackerman |
|Biomedical treatments for autism spectrum disorders can be a confusing addition to traditional therapies. This seminar will cover: |
|Why you should consider biomedical treatments |
|How to start |
|What to look for |
|What is available as an option |
|How are these treatments paid for |
|This seminar will be presented by a parent – not a doctor – in hopes of providing some suggestions and insight for other parents with children |
|on the spectrum. |
| |
|San Diego: |
| |
| |
|Meets: 4th Tuesday evening |
|Time: 6:30- 8:00 p.m. |
|Info: restepp@ |
|Location: NEW LOCATION AS OF April 2005: |
|Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church |
|17010 Pomerado Road, San Diego, CA 92128 - Rooms 22 A&B |
|March 28-- Lisa Ackerman. Topic: Who Pays for WHAT??? |
|Often deciphering the resources available to families with special needs children can be overwhelming, confusing and extremely frustrating. This|
|seminar focuses on California-based resources and will cover: |
|o Who pays for services before age 3 |
|o Who pays for services after age 3 |
|o What does a diagnosis qualify your child for? |
|o Funding discussions include: state & federal resources, regional center, school district, health insurance and alternative funding available |
|to families. |
| |
|Corona: |
| |
| |
|Meets: 3rd Saturday |
|Time: 1:30–4:30 p.m. |
|For more information, please contact NEW CONTACT TAMI DUNCAN. |
|E-mail - TACAInlandEmpire@ |
|Please note: TACA Corona has a NEW LOCATION as of January 2006. Meeting Location: Peppermint Ridge - 825 Magnolia Avenue, Corona CA 92879 |
| |
|Date |
|Speaker Name |
|Topic |
|Biography |
| |
|3/18/06 |
|Dr. Kurt Woeller, D.O. of Stillpoint Center |
|“Autistic-Spectrum Disorders - Why You Need a Comprehensive Biomedical Approach and How to Get Started” |
|A DAN! (Defeat Autism Now) doctor’s viewpoint and experience in implementing biomedical treatment for children and adults with an |
|autistic-spectrum disorder. |
|Dr. Woeller is the medical director for Stillpoint Center for Integrative Medicine () in Temecula, CA. He has been a DAN! |
|(Defeat Autism Now) referral physician since 1997, specializing in biomedical assessment and treatment options for children and adults with |
|autistic-spectrum disorders. His practice is dedicated to natural and integrative medicine treatment options for chronic health issues. Dr. |
|Woeller also works as a physician consultant specializing in functional diagnostic medicine for Great Plains and BioHealth Diagnostics |
|laboratories. |
| |
| |
|4/15/06 |
|Lisa Ackerman – TACA Founder |
|Who Pays for WHAT??? |
|Often deciphering the resources available to families with special needs children can be overwhelming, confusing and extremely frustrating. |
|Provided from a parent’s perspective - this seminar focuses on California based resources and will cover: |
|o Who pays for services before age 3 o Who pays for services after age 3 o What does a diagnosis qualify your child for? |
|o Funding discussions include: state & federal resources, regional center, school district, health insurance and alternative funding available |
|to families. |
| |
|5/20/06 |
|Katherine Bowman Speech and Language Pathologist |
|TBA |
|TBA |
| |
| |
| |
|Torrance: |
| |
| |
|Meets: 3rd Monday of each month |
|Location: Whole Foods Market on PCH in Torrance |
|Time: 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. |
|For more info: beth@ - |
|SPECIAL NOTE: This group tends to be an advanced group with biomedical discussions. If you are a newly diagnosed family, you may wish to attend |
|other locations for your first meeting. |
|March 20, 2006 – Lisa Ackerman – Starting the Biomedical Journey |
|Biomedical treatments for autism spectrum disorders can be a confusing addition to traditional therapies. This seminar will cover: |
|Why you should consider biomedical treatments |
|How to start |
|What to look for |
|What is available as an option |
|How are these treatments paid for |
|This seminar will be presented by a parent – not a doctor – in hopes of providing some suggestions and insight for other parents with children |
|on the spectrum. |
|April 17, 2006 – speaker to be announced |
| |
|Visalia: |
| |
| |
|Meets: 3rd Wednesday of month |
|Time: 6 p.m. "Happy Hour" with GFCF snacks and coffee 6:30-8:30 p.m. Speaker |
|Location: Kaweah Delta Multi-Service Center Auditorium, 402 W. Acequia, Visalia |
|Information: Please contact Lynne Arnold via email at lsarnold@ |
|March 15, 2006 – Lisa Ackerman - Starting the biomedical journey |
|Biomedical treatments for autism spectrum disorders can be a confusing addition to traditional therapies. This seminar will cover: |
|Why you should consider biomedical treatments |
|How to start |
|What to look for |
|What is available as an option |
|How are these treatments paid for |
|This seminar will be presented by a parent – not a doctor – in hopes of providing some suggestions and insight for other parents with children |
|on the spectrum. |
|April 19, 2006 – speaker to be announced |
| |
|Santa Rosa: |
| |
| |
|Meets: (typically) 2nd Tuesday of each month |
|Location: Swain Center - 795 Farmers Lane, Suite 27 |
|Santa Rosa, CA |
|Time: 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. |
|For more info: Cathy Ference – email Cathy.Ference@ |
|Special thanks to Dave Stillman for getting TACA Santa Rosa off the ground and running! |
|March 14, 2006 – speaker to be determined |
|April 11, 2006 – speaker to be determined |
| |
| |
[pic]
| |TACA Calendar Quick View |
|MARCH 2006 |
| |
|Sunday |
|Monday |
|Tuesday |
|Wednesday |
|Thursday |
|Friday |
|Saturday |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|1 |
|2 |
|"A Primer of Brain Development for Parents and Professionals: |
|Insights for Autism" by Pat Levitt, Ph.D. |
|3 |
|4 |
| |
| |
|5 |
|West Hills Meeting |
|6 |
|7 |
|8 |
|Foothill Autism Alliance: Family Resource Meeting |
|-------------- |
|The Listening Clinic, Sacramento |
|9 |
|10 |
|11 |
|Costa Mesa Meeting |
|Dr Beth Ballinger |
|-------------- |
|The Trends in Autism Conference |
| |
|12 |
|Autism Awareness Night 5PM @ The Arrowhead Pond- Anaheim |
|13 |
|PECS Training in San Diego |
|14 |
|Santa Rosa Meeting |
|15 |
|Visalia Meeting: Starting the biomedical journey |
|16 |
|17 |
|18 |
|Corona Meeting |
|-------------- |
|Cooking Class Demo: Gluten and Casein Free |
|-------------- |
|PEN OC presents CHRISTINA ADAMS |
| |
|19 |
|20 |
|Torrance Meeting |
|21 |
|22 |
|23 |
|24 |
|BERARD AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING |
|25 |
|Involved Exceptional Parents’ Day |
| |
|26 |
|27 |
|28 |
|San Diego Meeting: Who Pays for What? |
|29 |
|30 |
|31 |
| |
| |
| |
|APRIL 2005 |
| |
|Sunday |
|Monday |
|Tuesday |
|Wednesday |
|Thursday |
|Friday |
|Saturday |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|1 |
| |
|2 |
|West Hills Meeting: Starting the biomedical journey |
|3 |
|4 |
|5 |
|6 |
|7 |
|8 |
|Costa Mesa Meeting: Attorney Bonnie Yates |
| |
|9 |
|10 |
|11 |
|Santa Rosa Meeting |
|12 |
|13 |
|14 |
|15 |
|Corona Meeting |
| |
| |
| |
|16 |
|17 |
|Torrance Meeting |
|18 |
|19 |
|Visalia Meeting |
|------------- |
|Future Horizons Autism / Asperger's 2006 |
|20 |
|21 |
|22 |
|Thoughtful House Medical Seminar |
| |
|23 |
|24 |
|25 |
|San Diego Meeting |
|26 |
|27 |
|Best Practices in Autism Treatment |
|28 |
|29 |
|“A PARENTAL GUIDE TO SENSORY INTEGRATION IN |
|OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY” |
| |
|30 |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
[pic]
|2a |TACA 2005 Accomplishments |
| [pic] |
|2005 Accomplishments |
|Talk About Curing Autism began with ten families and now reaches out to almost 2,000 families in seven California locations. Our goals are to |
|continue to educate, support and provide services to help families affected by autism, build communities, and help their children be the best |
|they can be. |
|Below are our key accomplishments from 2005: |
|1. |
|Membership increased from 1,600 to over 2,000 families. |
| |
|2. |
|Continued to provide 95% of program services at no cost to families. |
| |
| |
|a.We continue to provide our mission to families affected by autism. |
|More on our mission at . |
| |
|3. |
|Held over 75 education and support group meetings including three New Parent Seminars, helping almost 100 families as they began their autism |
|journey. |
| |
| |
|a. Approximately 50 meetings were held in 2004. |
| |
|4. |
|Distributed 750 free Autism Journey Parent Guides to families at TACA meetings. |
| |
| |
|a. Just over 500 guides were provided in 2004. |
| |
|5. |
|Increased fundraising efforts by over 280% in 2005 from diverse funding sources that can be replicated annually. |
| |
|6. |
|In collaboration with Thoughtful House Foundation, TACA provided 30 medical treatment scholarships to children affected by autism, who otherwise|
|would have been unable to afford treatment. |
| |
| |
|a. TACA does not designate the families but refers them to Thoughtful House for review of their needs. |
| |
|7. |
|Web site hits increased from 20,000 hits per month in 2004 to over 50,000 hits per month in 2005. |
| |
|8. |
|The free TACA Resources list has grown from 1,000 to over 1,300 resources provided at no charge to families in an easy to use web-accessible |
|format. |
| |
|9. |
|Rolled out the TACA library to all locations and increased the materials for families to utilize at no costs. |
| |
|10. |
|Provided over 60 mentor introductions for new families to obtain support and guidance from an experienced TACA family. |
| |
|11. |
|Thanks to a grant from Northrop Grumman, TACA was able to adopt 23 families in need during the holiday season. |
| |
|For additional information please contact TACA at: |
|Talk About Curing Autism - (949) 640-4401 - - tacanow@ |
|P.O. Box 12409 - Newport Beach, CA 92658-2409 |
| |
| |
[pic]
|3 |General News |
[pic]
|3. Article A: |Autism Tsunami Carries Away Parents' Resources |
|Society also faces high and growing costs |
|By James Ottar Grundvig |
|Special to The Epoch Times |
|Feb 27, 2006 |
|Demonstrators carry signs against the use of mercury in vaccines past the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images) |
|At his baptism at two-and-a-half-months old, my son Fridrik, had better focus and communication skills than he would two years later when the |
|regressive form of autism took hold. That rite followed the first batch of baby vaccinations by two weeks. Those immunizations included DTP, |
|hepatitis B, and HiB vaccines. But Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis (DTP) was a triple shot that contained thimerosal. So Fridrik, weighing a slight|
|thirteen pounds at the time, had in essence five vaccines in a single day. And that didn't include the "birth dose" of hepatitis B he received |
|in the hours after he was born. |
|In retrospect, it wasn't the six vaccines he had in sixty days that did the damage, but it allowed thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative |
|used in many baby vaccines, to take root and accumulate. The full impact of that accumulation of mercury poisoning wouldn't reveal itself until |
|after the end of the baby vaccination cycle. By then Fridrik's nervous system began to show signs of being fried. It would strangle his speech, |
|turn his fingers into claws, causing him to lose his desire to draw, and make his skin very sensitive to the touch. Gone too was his ability to |
|focus, socialize, and recognize the faces of his mother and father. |
|It would be a full year after the first signs of autism that he was officially diagnosed, and another year after that before his parents figured|
|out what to do about the devastating disorder. |
|A year into treating Fridrik with the multi-prong approach of vitamins, lipoic, folinic and amino acids, glutathione, and chelation therapy, we |
|are starting to see results. Yet we also know the horizon of recovery, when he can be "mainstreamed" with his peers, is several years away. |
|Most parents at the onset of bringing their autistic child to a DAN (Defeat Autism Now!) doctor are unaware of the expense that lies ahead. The |
|sheer outlay of money often accumulates faster than thimerosal in the tissues of spectrum kids. The costs go well beyond the visits to one or |
|more doctors, who have developed varying protocols to treat different spokes of the autism wheel. |
|The commitment to treat an ASD child cannot be measured in weeks or months, but years and even decades. At a cost of $10,000 to $30,000 or more |
|a year after taxes, with little or no insurance reimbursement, and our local, state, and federal governments giving a deaf ear, the money |
|squeeze is on. There are myriad tests, from blood and yeast tests to stomach X-rays and brain MRI's, that balloon costs upfront. That's because |
|doctors need to rule out a variety of ailments that either fall on the spectrum or outside it. When gastrointestinal (GI) problems, aka "leaky |
|gut" or inflamed bowel disease, are added to the mix the expense and the course for treatment soar exponentially. |
|No longer are parents of leaky gut children merely treating the brain and detoxing the body of heavy metals, they are also trying to balance |
|diets to curb a relentless diarrhea and constipation and get their aging kids out of wearing diapers. Leaky gut issues also have another hidden |
|long-term drawback: Cost. When it comes to chelation therapy, my son, who doesn't have GI issues, takes the oral and stronger form of chelation.|
|But the DMPS chelation pill ravages the stomach of children with leaky gut, who have yeast, bacteria and absorption problems, which in turn |
|causes inflammation. |
|The majority of ASD kids who are receiving chelation therapy are forced to take it as a transdermal cream application, using the skin as opposed|
|to the stomach as the conduit to receive the medicine. This slower acting chelator costs more than the pill and takes three to five years to |
|work, due to the gradual absorption rate. The pill form takes approximately half that time and is given in cycles of every two weeks as opposed |
|to every day or two. Thus the costs of chelating autistic children with gut issues are far more exorbitant and time-consuming than those who do |
|not suffer GI ailments. |
|Add to the monetary obligation of following a doctor's protocol, periodic tests to monitor whether a protocol is working, office visits, and |
|trying new and more exotic treatments, such as a hyperbaric oxygen chamber—to enhance oxygenation of the brain—and parents can be pushed to the |
|precipice of financial ruin. |
|The decision to cutback on treatment or to continue to treat autistic children in the face of bankruptcy is too often dictated by money. But the|
|damage to the family, the fabric of American society, is incalculable both in terms of cost and loss productivity for the stressed-out working |
|parent. |
|But the costs of the autism tsunami do not end there. When the population of more than one million—and growing— ASD children never reaches full |
|potential as contributors to tomorrow's workforce, the term brain drain will take on a darker connotation. |
|In recent months, New York University (NYU) announced that it will build a new $200 million center for mentally disabled children, because they |
|saw the need to address the "acute shortage" of mental health teachers and therapists. Acute shortage, however, does not address the real |
|problem. The autism epidemic, along with the spike in children with ADHD, created the gap not because there is a shortage of professionals, but |
|because there are literally tens of thousands of more kids to treat than in 2000. Without admitting there is an epidemic, our government and |
|institutions are unable to call the white elephant standing in the room by its true name. |
|NYU's philanthropy is good for the long run in trying to keep pace with the spate of ASD cases, but it does not address the parents' plight of |
|trying to acquire treatments for children who suffer from leaky gut and heavy metals contamination. |
|In the same vein, much has been made of Bill and Melinda Gates winning two thirds of Time People of the Year in 2005. The co-founders of the |
|Gates Foundation received the award mainly due to their charitable work to curb malaria in Africa by bankrolling a vaccine to fight the deadly |
|disease. But there could be unintended consequences in carrying out such a plan. That's because thimerosal, used in the production of vaccines, |
|will find its way into the bloodstream of African infants. Most of them will be able to excrete the toxin. But there will be a subpopulation |
|which cannot and they might show signs of autism in a few years. |
|With no government oversight of American-made vaccines sent abroad, I would be wary of anyone giving away vaccine shots for free. Maybe if the |
|Gates understood the issue of autism in America, what its causes are, and that it can be treated to a great degree beyond special education, |
|then they can redirect some of their philanthropy to help families on the verge of collapse. |
|James Ottar Grundvig is the father of an autistic child. He lives and works in New York City. |
| |
| |
[pic]
|3. Article B: |Two new installments from Dan Olmsted at UPI: |
|The Age of Autism: Pay no attention |
|By Dan Olmsted UPI Senior Editor - Mar. 2, 2006 at 2:07PM |
| |
|There's a Steely Dan album called Pretzel Logic that could be the theme song of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as it struggles |
|with concerns over vaccines and autism. |
| At least in our view, it is a bit twisted -- logically speaking -- to simultaneously spend taxpayer money to keep studying whether a |
|mercury preservative causes autism, yet recommend that pregnant women and children get vaccines containing that preservative. Especially so when|
|alternatives are available that are free of the preservative, called thimerosal. |
| It is puzzling to urge, as the CDC did in 1999, that thimerosal ought to be phased out as soon as possible from all childhood vaccines |
|used in the United States -- yet successfully fight efforts this year by state legislatures to codify a ban. |
| It is peculiar to issue an "Autism Alarm," as the CDC did in 2004 -- then publish a 72-page annual report in 2005 that mentions the perils|
|of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, cryptosporidiosis, leprosy and the four people "killed by rabies transmitted through transplanted organs or |
|tissues in 2004," yet never use the word autism, not once. (Check it out at cdc.pdf) |
| Perhaps the oddest, though subtlest, anomaly is the seeming resistance by the CDC to the idea that the autism rate might be declining. |
| Our last column reported a new study that suggests it could well be. The study's authors are firmly convinced a drop in autism cases in |
|two separate government databases -- one run by the CDC, the other by the state of California -- proves thimerosal is the big culprit in autism.|
|That's a step we're not ready to take, to the consternation of some in the anti-thimerosal movement. |
| But wouldn't even tentative signs of a decrease, for whatever conceivable reason, be welcome and hopeful? |
| Instead, the CDC seems keen to clobber any suggestion that autism might be declining. In Thursday's Boston-area Herald News Tribune, |
|reporter Jon Brodkin quotes Dr. Robert Davis, director of the immunization safety group at the CDC, as saying: "I don't think this study can |
|really be taken to provide any evidence one way or another." |
| Davis also said one of the databases the study authors used -- the CDC's own Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System -- is unreliable |
|because anyone can report any health problem as a possible vaccine side effect. |
| Fair enough, but new cases in that database seem to be declining in tandem with new cases in California's special education system. And |
|those California numbers are widely regarded as the most reliable count of full-syndrome, professionally diagnosed autism cases in the United |
|States. P.S.: The most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Education also dropped. |
| But so what, say the CDC and others who are on record (and, let's face it, on the line) backing thimerosal to the hilt and asserting there|
|is no connection between vaccines and autism. |
| "The Department of Education numbers are skewed, another official said, because the DOE did not make autism a separate diagnosis until the|
|1990s," Brodkin reported. "That led to an artificial increase because children who previously had different diagnoses were then considered |
|autistic, said Dr. Marie McCormick, a Harvard professor who chaired an Institute of Medicine committee that dismissed any link between vaccines |
|and autism." |
| What's intriguing is how all this dovetails with comments made last summer by Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, at a press |
|conference in Washington set up to defend vaccine safety. Here is the question she was asked: "Can you address the ... California study that |
|basically showed that there was an increase in autism in direct relation to the 1990s when the series of vaccines were increased, and now since |
|thimerosal has been taken out there is a slight decrease in autistic cases?" |
| Responded Gerberding: |
| "The California study, as you know, is an ongoing study and they are addressing the estimates of autism prevalence on a quarterly basis, |
|sort of like the stock market bounces around a little bit. The most recent reading from that study is in fact that the rates are increasing, |
|they have not shown a decline." |
| That's one way to look at it. Here's another, from reporter Thomas Maugh II in The Los Angeles Times on July 13: "The number of newly |
|diagnosed cases of autism in California, which had been skyrocketing for more than a decade, has leveled off and may even be declining, |
|according to new data compiled by the state Department of Developmental Services." |
| Some parents who listened in on Gerberding's comments did not like comparing the autism rate to the stock market. But the bigger issue is |
|the odd, official resistance to the idea that any autism rate anywhere in the United States might be going down, however slightly, however |
|inconclusively, however briefly. |
| So the VAERS data don't count, the California numbers are bouncing, the Department of Education stats are unreliable. Is any of this |
|starting to sound like, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain?" And do we all remember who said that? |
| -- |
| E-mail: dolmsted@ |
|The Age of Autism: Less is beautiful |
|By DAN OLMSTED UPI Senior Editor |
|Whatever the reason, a big decline in autism diagnoses would be welcome news to anyone who cares about the nightmarish prevalence of the |
|disorder. |
|The latest signal that something may be going on comes from the father-and-son research team of Dr. Mark R. Geier and David A. Geier. They |
|report in the spring issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons that "significant decreasing trends in newly diagnosed NDs |
|(neurodevelopmental disorders) were observed ... from mid-2002 through 2005" in two separate databases. |
|The first is kept by the California Department of Developmental Services and is widely regarded as the most accurate barometer of full-syndrome,|
|professionally diagnosed cases of autism. Those qualifiers are important because autism spectrum disorders run the gamut from severe |
|(full-syndrome) to milder (Asperger's disorder) to hard to define (the awfully named PDD-NOS, or pervasive developmental disorders, not |
|otherwise specified). |
|So focusing on the full-syndrome cases -- the most easily identified and indisputable -- is a smart way to go. |
|The other database is the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System maintained by the federal government, to which health professionals, parents |
|and anyone else can report what they believe are side effects of vaccines. |
|That's much less consistent and credible, of course, but the Geiers see the VAERS information as an informal confirmation of the California data|
|--companion graphs printed side by side in the study show remarkably similar rise-and-falls in autism. |
|"The consistency of the effects observed for the spectrum of NDs, including autism and speech disorders, and the agreement between the |
|observations from two separate databases, support the conclusion that the effect is real and not a chance observation. The magnitude of the |
|change in the trend lines is substantial," the Geiers write. |
|The Geiers also cite another confirmation: "(P)rovisional data from the U.S. Department of Education show a recent decrease of 529 in the number|
|of new autism diagnoses recorded among children 3 to 5 years old, after years of annual increases. There were 1,451 new cases in 2001-2002; |
|1,981 in 2002-2003; 3,707 in 2003-2004; and 3,178 in 2004-2005." |
|The Geiers attribute the rise and fall to the increasing use of the mercury preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines in the 1990s, followed|
|by the phase-out beginning in 1999. While federal health authorities and mainstream medical groups say concern about thimerosal is not founded |
|on good science, the Geiers think the trends ought to prompt a fresh look at the theory. |
|The people I talk to who think the preservative may indeed have triggered the rise in autism don't know what to make of all these numbers. While|
|the autism rate may be falling as indicated in these databases, they say it's far too soon to make conclusive claims. |
|Some, in fact, have told me they think it should be falling further, faster if thimerosal is really behind the autism epidemic. Others suspect |
|the connection is already there to see in exactly those numbers. |
|Then there's the possible confounding effect of flu shots for children and pregnant women, most of which still contain thimerosal. A number of |
|other vaccines retain "trace" amounts of thimerosal. |
|And despite the welcome trends in data cited by the Geier, some countervailing reports are troubling. For example, reporter Steven Carter wrote |
|in The Oregonian just last week that "(c)hildren diagnosed with autism, a brain disorder that disrupts a child's communication and social |
|skills, jumped from 5,070 in 2004 to 5,637 in December. Over five years, the number of autistic students rose by 67 percent." |
|I'm sure someone can reconcile that with figures suggesting autism is on its way down, but I can't. |
|"We wish we knew exactly what is going on," said an admirably tentative Dr. Bob Nickel, a developmental pediatrician who heads the Autism |
|Training Network at Oregon Health & Science University. He told Carter environmental issues could be at work. |
|Certainly other neurotoxins -- mercury in fish, just to pick an example often cited -- could harm kids' development whether the mercury in |
|vaccines was ever a problem or not. It doesn't take much imagination to connect fish from the Pacific with mercury-laced plumes wafting over |
|from China with a long history of mercury mines in the northwest -- and voila, rising autism in Oregon. |
|That's rank speculation. But some areas of the country probably do create more autism than others -- "hotspots," as they're called. |
|All this should make people cautious, humble and, as the scientists always remind us, evidence-based. |
|Mark Blaxill, a director of the mercury-out-of-medicine group Safe Minds, told me a couple of years ago: "By the time kids born in 2001 turn 5, |
|we'll have a pretty good picture of the thimerosal effect." |
|That's soon -- but not quite yet. |
|-- |
|E-mail: consumer@ |
| |
| |
[pic]
|3. Article C: |CDC OBTAINS CHILDREN’S CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT FOR AUTISM STUDY |
|Parents Express Outrage Over Covert Tactics as CDC Circumvents HIPAA and FERPA Laws, Prompting a Call for Congressional Investigations |
|Nixa , MO – The National Autism Association (NAA) today expressed dismay over the CDC’s continuing ability to obtain confidential medical and |
|educational records of children without parental knowledge or consent for an autism study conducted largely in secret. |
|Last week, an Arkansas parent confirmed that not only had her daughter’s medical records been accessed without her knowledge, but school records|
|had also been secretly obtained and used without her permission. News stories last year from Colorado revealed that medical records had been |
|turned over to the CDC in apparent violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) , enacted to protect the privacy|
|of patients. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), such educational records are considered confidential. |
|A former employee of the Arkansas school district informed the child’s family of the secret gathering of information after the fact, indicating |
|that school personnel had been expressly forbidden to inform parents of the study, or that confidential records had been accessed and re-typed. |
|“This is an outrageous invasion of privacy,” said NAA President Wendy Fournier, “one that the CDC must now explain. This agency has become |
|notorious in the autism community for its mishandling of data linking mercury in vaccines to the development of autism. For the CDC to now be |
|given carte blanche access to our children’s confidential records is frightening. Why bother having such laws as HIPAA and FERPA, when |
|government can obviously obtain whatever information it wants, even that of innocent children?” |
|Calling upon Congress to investigate the activities of the CDC regarding its methods of collecting data for the study, NAA Board Chair Laura |
|Bono stated, “The CDC has continually set up roadblocks to outside access of the taxpayer-funded Vaccine Safety Datalink which could hold |
|answers for the hundreds of thousands of children now diagnosed with autism. It’s an alarming irony that the public is denied access to |
|information it’s clearly entitled to, while this agency continues to monitor personal information which by law is considered confidential.” |
|For more information, go to |
| |
| |
[pic]
|3. Article D: |Basket Ball Hero |
|This story is heart warming and perhaps the most emailed to |
|TACA news in the six year history: |
|Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams Come True |
|ROCHESTER , N.Y. , Feb. 23, 2006 |
|[pic] |
|Jason McElwain, who's autistic, lets a shot go, on the way to 20 points |
|in four minutes. (WROC/Rochester) |
|Quote |
|"This is the first moment Jason has ever succeeded (and could be) proud of himself. I look at autism as the Berlin Wall, and he cracked it." |
|Jason McElwain's mother, Debbie McElwain |
|(CBS) It was the stuff of Hollywood, but it was real. |
| |
|Senior Jason McElwain had been the manager of the varsity basketball team of Greece Athena High School in Rochester, N.Y. |
| |
|McElwain, who's autistic, was added to the roster by coach Jim Johnson so he could be given a jersey and get to sit on the bench in the team's last |
|game of the year. |
| |
|Johnson hoped the situation would even enable him to get McElwain onto the floor a little playing time. |
| |
|He got the chance, with Greece Athena up by double-digits with four minutes go to. |
| |
|And, in his first action of the year, McElwain missed his first two shots, but then sank six three-pointers and another shot (video), for a total of|
|20 points in three minutes. |
| |
|"My first shot was an air ball (missing the hoop), by a lot, then I missed a lay-up," McElwain recalls. "As the first shot went in, and then the |
|second shot, as soon as that went in, I just started to catch fire." |
| |
|"I've had a lot of thrills in coaching," Johnson says. "I've coached a lot of wonderful kids. But I've never experienced such a thrill." |
| |
|The crowd went wild, and his teammates carried the excited McElwain off the court. |
| |
|"I felt like a celebrity!" he beamed. |
| |
|McElwain's mother sees it as a milestone for her son. |
| |
|"This is the first moment Jason has ever succeeded (and could be) proud of himself," reflects Debbie McElwain. "I look at autism as the Berlin Wall,|
|and he cracked it." |
| |
|His teammates couldn't be happier. |
| |
|"He's a cool kid," says guard Levar Goff. "You just get to know him, get used to being around him. A couple of weeks ago, he missed practice because|
|he was sick. You feel different when he's not around. He brings humor and life to the team." |
| |
|Jason's next goal: to graduate. |
|Watch it live: |
|And the story continues: |
|Autistic basketball star Jason McElwain's 15 minutes of fame has gone into overtime. Steve Hartman has an update |
| |
|(Links don’t always work forever! This page changes as the days new comes and goes. Editors note: Why not give this guy the ball ALL THE TIME???! |
|Why the last game?) |
| |
| |
[pic]
|3. Article E: |Missing Autistic Boy Found Dead |
|[pic] |
|(AP / CBS) |
| |
|(AP) The body of an 8-year-old autistic boy was found in a retaining pond across the street from his home Friday, one day after police launched|
|a massive search for him. |
| |
|Jared McGuire's mother told authorities she had last seen him sleeping on the couch Thursday afternoon. After she reported him missing, police |
|scoured the area dogs and a helicopter. Authorities suspect the body sank and then resurfaced. |
| |
|A deputy spotted Jared in the pond Friday. An autopsy was planned Friday to determine the cause of death. |
| |
|There were no obvious signs of trauma and the boy was fully clothed, Greenacres Police Lt. Michael Porath said. Authorities said the boy had |
|severe autism. |
| |
|Police has issued an alert after a witness reported seeing a child matching Jared's description being forced into a van. |
| |
|"We are still looking into the abduction angle," Porath said. But he said because the boy was found so close to home, it appears less likely |
|that he was abducted. |
| |
|Greenacres is 8 miles south of West Palm Beach. |
|Editor’s note: our heartfelt condolences to the McGuire family. Words cannot express the loss of their beloved Jared. |
|How can the news in stories D & E above be so uplifting and tragic in almost the same breath? More on this topic in the PERSONAL NOTE. |
| |
| |
[pic]
|3. Article F: |Mercury from Power Plants Linked to Autism |
| |
| |
|Mercury from Power Plants Linked to Autism |
| |
|By Katrina Woznicki, MedPage Today Staff Writer |
|Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. |
|March 19, 2005 - Also covered by: ABC, Newsday, Seattle Times |
| |
|Inform patients that the findings from this study are preliminary, but they demonstrate an association between environmentally released mercury |
|at the county level and the rate of developmental disability. Ecologic studies do not establish causality but they can form the basis for |
|further studies. |
| |
|Advise patients who ask that they can, to some degree, minimize their mercury exposure by avoiding consumption of fish high in mercury content. |
| |
|Review |
|SAN ANTONIO , Tex.-Texas communities with the highest rates of special education and autism also have the state's highest levels of mercury in |
|their environments. |
| |
| |
|That's according to a soon-to-be published study in the journal Health and Place, which found a 61 percent increase in autism and a 43 percent |
|increase in special education cases for every 1,000 pounds of mercury released into the environment. Fossil fuel-burning power plants were the |
|source of the widespread mercury pollution. |
| |
|Raymond F. Palmer, Ph.D., an associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of Texas in San Antonio, looked at 2001 |
|Environmental Protection Agency data collected in Texas's 254 counties. Then he correlated the mercury pollution with the numbers of special |
|education and autism cases in 1,200 school |
|districts. |
| |
|Texas has the fourth highest level of environmental mercury in the country, exceeded only by California, Oregon and West Virginia. |
| |
|Although this preliminary study does not suggest environmental mercury causes autism, researchers say there's a strong enough connection to |
|warrant a deeper investigation. Dr. Palmer said it's one of the first studies to demonstrate a link between environmental mercury at the county |
|level and neurological developmental |
|disability rates. |
| |
|"Mercury is one of the most toxic substances in the world," Dr. Palmer said in an interview. "It takes just under a teaspoon to contaminate a |
|25-acre lake. It's highly biocumulative." |
| |
|Dr. Palmer said he also has unpublished data from outside Texas, revealing similar findings on autism and mental retardation. |
| |
|Others said Dr. Palmer's study at least raises a red flag. |
| |
|"Those are startling numbers," Mady Hornig, M.D., an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University in New York who has studied |
|autism, said in an interview. "Certainly the numbers are concerning enough that it's difficult to explain them away." |
| |
|There's been immense interest in the rising autism rates in the U.S., with mercury has been a suspect-but primarily the mercury content in |
|vaccines. However, recent research indicates that vaccines do not trigger autism, most notably the much-debated MMR shot.. |
| |
|Published reports say autism may affect 1 out of every 250 American children, compared with the estimated one out of every 10,000 in previous |
|decades. Boys have higher rates of the disorder than girls, suggesting that genetic predisposition leaves some children more vulnerable to |
|environmental influences. Earlier this month, the Bush administration ordered power plants to cut their mercury pollution in half by 2020. |
|Environmental groups criticized the White House order as falling far short. |
| |
| |
[pic]
|4 |Vaccine News |
[pic]
|4. Article A: |Study links autism, vaccine |
|By Jon Brodkin |
|Thursday, March 2, 2006 |
| |
|Autism diagnoses have dropped nationwide since mercury was removed from most childhood vaccines, according to a new study that some say lends |
|credence to charges that vaccinations were responsible for a huge increase in autism cases. |
| About 4,700 families -- including ones from Framingham and Waltham -- have pending claims in a federal vaccine court alleging that mercury |
|in vaccines caused their children to develop autism. |
| The allegations are controversial and viewed with skepticism by many government officials and medical professionals. But supporters of a |
|vaccine-autism link say a new report in the peer reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons proves that the removal of mercury from |
|vaccines has led to a decrease in autism cases. |
| "This study is exactly the kind of thing people have been waiting for for three years now," said Richard Deth, a neuropharmacologist at |
|Northeastern University who has testified in front of Congress on this issue. "It was recognized that this type of data would be (necessary) to |
|see whether this theory had validity or not." |
| The study by two researchers was criticized by a government vaccination official who said it drew conclusions from unreliable data. |
| "I don’t think this study can really be taken to provide any evidence one way or another," said Dr. Robert Davis, director of the |
|immunization safety group at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
| But the study was warmly received by Jared Hansen, a Framingham resident with two autistic children who filed a claim in the federal vaccine|
|court. |
| "It’s certainly the data we’ve been expecting and waiting for. I’m glad to see it’s been published," Hansen said. "I believe it will swing |
|some people who are sitting on the fence." |
| Hansen’s claim is pending in front of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault system that pays financial settlements |
|from a trust fund consisting of vaccine surcharges. The program is considering claims in one omnibus proceeding from Hansen and 4,700 other |
|parents, including Mike Chmura of Waltham. |
| Between 1988 and 1992, the federal government more than doubled the amount of mercury injected into babies by recommending additional |
|vaccines that contain thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury. |
| Since then, estimated autism prevalence soared from one out of 2,500 births to one in every 166. Federal officials say the increase is at |
|least partly explained by changes in diagnostic guidelines, but some researchers believe mercury in vaccines is to blame. |
| Thimerosal is still used in flu shots, but was eliminated from most other childhood vaccines by 2003. |
| A father-son research team determined that new diagnoses of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders have dropped since then after |
|analyzing data from the national Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, the U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of |
|Developmental Services. |
| Additional doses of mercury-containing vaccines were associated with a 2- to 8-fold increase in risk for neurodevelopmental disorders, they |
|wrote in the latest issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. |
| "Significant decreasing trends in newly diagnosed (disorders) were observed ... from mid-2002 through 2005," wrote Dr. Mark Geier and son, |
|David. Mark Geier is president of the Genetic Centers of America and his son is a graduate student in biochemistry at George Washington |
|University. |
| Their study was criticized by officials who said the data bases the Geiers analyzed are not reliable. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting |
|System can contain reports filed by anyone, including doctors, patients and lawyers, Davis said. |
| The Department of Education numbers are skewed, another official said, because the DOE did not make autism a separate diagnosis until the |
|1990s. That led to an artificial increase because children who previously had different diagnoses were then considered autistic, said Dr. Marie |
|McCormick, a Harvard professor who chaired an Institute of Medicine committee that dismissed any link between vaccines and autism. |
| |
|(Jon Brodkin can be reached at 508-626-4424 or jbrodkin@.) |
|The Study: |
|“Early Downward Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines” |
| |
|--------------------------------- |
|Study Shows Decline in Neurodevelopmental Disorders After Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines |
|Two Unrelated Government Databases Show Same Downward Trend in Autism Cases |
|A new study published today ( 3/1/06) shows that the rate of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs) in children has decreased following removal of |
|thimerosal, a preservative containing the neurotoxin mercury, from American childhood vaccines. The study, published in the Journal of American |
|Physicians and Surgeons, a peer reviewed journal, by Dr. Mark Geier and David Geier examined two independent databases maintained by the |
|government – one national and one state. |
|The Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and the Californian Department of |
|Developmental Services (CDDS) database each showed the same downward trend for the period from 2002 through 2005. According to the study “[t]he |
|results indicate that the trends in newly diagnosed NDs correspond directly with the expansion and subsequent contraction of the cumulative |
|mercury dose to which children were exposed from [thimerosal-containing vaccines] through the U.S. immunization schedule.” |
|The study examined the trend for cases of autism during the period beginning 1994 and ending 2002 compared with the period from 2002 to June, |
|2005. The trends for increases and decreases of cases of autism found in the VAERS national database were consistent with the trends found in |
|the CDDC California database. Most significantly, in each database the increasing and decreasing trends correlate with the time that the |
|exposure to thimerosal through the immunization schedule was increased and then decreased after removal of mercury containing vaccines. “The |
|consistency of the effects observed for the spectrum of NDs, including autism and speech disorders, and the agreement between the observations |
|from two separate databases, support the conclusion that the effect is real and not a chance observation.” The study found that the magnitude of|
|the change in the decreasing trend of cases was significant after removal of mercury from vaccines. Data from the U.S. |
|Department of Education, a |
|third database, showed a recent decrease of autism diagnoses that is consistent with the findings in the two databases. |
|The authors show that the biological plausibility of their statistical findings is supported by recent toxicological and molecular studies that |
|reveal the mechanism by which mercury from vaccines can cause damage to the developing brains of children. A recent study by researchers at the |
|University of Washington has shown that ethylmercury from thimerosal in vaccines can cross from the bloodstream into the brain in toxic amounts |
|which can remain in brain tissue for many years. This finding contradicted the untested view about the toxicity of ethylmercury in vaccines that|
|prevailed in public health for 75 years. Other researchers have shown that minute concentrations of mercury, far lower than previously believed |
|and far less than other toxins such as lead, can destroy neurons and damage DNA within hours of exposure. Such low levels of mercury, which |
|likely are reached in infant brains via vaccine thimerosal exposure, can disrupt cell signaling and metabolic pathways necessary for normal |
|brain development. Studies in mice, rabbits, monkeys, rats and other animals support these findings. |
|Further studies in children have found evidence of mercury toxicity, metabolic disruption and oxidative stress that is consistent with the |
|author’s statistical findings that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism and developmental disorders. |
|The authors point out that their finding that the VAERS and CDDS databases show strong associations between thimerosal containing vaccines and |
|neurodevelopmental disorders completely contradicts the |
|2004 findings contained in a report published by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences – which was based on data |
|controlled exclusively by the Center for Disease Control’s National Immunization Program and unavailable to outside researchers. In arguing that|
|their study’s findings justify additional research the authors point out that the handling of vaccine safety data by the Centers for Disease |
|Control has been called into serious question in a 2005 report published by the Institute of Medicine. |
|You can view and download a PDF file containing the new study, “Early Downward Trends in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Following Removal of |
|Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines” by clicking here. |
| |
|It is being published today in Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 2006 of the peer-reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. |
| |
| |
[pic]
|4. Article B: |New Study Supports Mercury-Autism Link as Documents Surface Showing CDC’s Refusal to Reduce Mercury Exposure Through|
| |Routine Shots in 1999, Says NAA |
|National Autism Association Calls for Senate Investigation of CDC Malfeasance in Extending Use of Mercury in Kids’ Vaccines |
|Nixa , MO - The National Autism Association (NAA) today joined other advocacy organizations in calling for Senate investigations of the Centers |
|for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding its failure to remove thimerosal (mercury) from pediatric vaccines when given the opportunity|
|in 1999. This comes following a study released this week showing reduced autism diagnoses coincide with the reduction of mercury-containing |
|vaccines given to children. |
|The study, conducted by Mark Geier, M.D. and David Geier and published in the peer-reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, shows |
|reduced autism rates since the removal of mercury from most childhood vaccines. These findings bolster voluminous studies and data confirming |
|that increased use of mercury-containing vaccines in the 1980’s and 1990’s led to an epidemic of neurological disorders among American children.|
| |
|In July of 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a joint statement advising mercury be |
|removed from childhood vaccines “as soon as possible.” Newly uncovered documents reveal that just weeks after the PHS/AAP recommendation, |
|vaccine maker Smith Kline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) wrote to the CDC suggesting a significant reduction of mercury exposure to children |
|through use of the thimerosal-free DTaP vaccine, Infanrix, which could meet the U.S. demand at least until mid-2000. The CDC’s refusal to accept|
|this offer has left many in the autism community outraged. |
|“Hundreds of thousands of children were denied access to thimerosal-free shots because of the CDC’s inexplicable decision to leave the mercury |
|in,” stated NAA President Wendy Fournier. “This dereliction of responsibility to our children’s health is unacceptable. Congress must ensure |
|this agency is held accountable for its role in the autism epidemic.” |
|Joining the call for Senate hearings regarding CDC’s handling of the issue, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. stated in an article this |
|week, “It's time for the CDC to come clean with the American public. Its tactics of deception and obfuscation are jeopardizing the credibility |
|of the entire vaccine program, and therefore posing an enormous danger to public health.” |
|For more information, go to |
| |
| |
[pic]
|4. Article C: |The Mercury Thing |
|Evidence is mounting that vaccinations may have played a part in the skyrocketing autism rate |
| |
|PUBLISHED ON MARCH 2, 2006: |
|By RENÉE DOWNING |
|[pic] |
| |
| |
| |
|What is autism? What causes it? These are hot questions these days, in part because cognitive science keeps turning up new clues about the |
|nature of a disease that's both incurable and deeply strange. The recent discovery of "mirror neurons," for example--brain cells that fire when |
|we do a particular thing and also when we see someone else do it--promises to throw light on how we learn, and therefore, on the nature of |
|autism. |
|The big news about autism, though, is that it seems to have become much more common during the last two decades. |
|The Pima County branch of the state Division of Developmental Disabilities addresses four disabilities: autism, mental retardation, cerebral |
|palsy and epilepsy. In terms of the number of causes, autism used to be fourth. It's now third--and closing in on second. |
|This naturally raises questions about what could be causing so many apparently normal infant brains to go haywire after a year or two, and these|
|are questions that young families are asking with some urgency. Nothing about autism, though, is clear or simple, and some experts even doubt |
|that the apparent increase reflects anything more than improved diagnosis and reporting. |
|Researcher James Adams, professor of mechanical and chemical engineering at Arizona State University, is an expert on heavy-metal toxicity and |
|the co-author of several studies on the biomedicine of autism. He's also the father of a 13-year-old autistic daughter, and he has strong |
|private opinions on the subject--but he's careful to lay out the facts impartially. |
|"There is no doubt that the number of reported cases has dramatically increased, from three or four cases per 10,000 20 years ago to one in 166.|
|And according to the best data we have, which is from California, where there's a fixed set of diagnostic criteria and a good reporting system, |
|cases have increased every year that they've been counting--until last year, when there was a slight decrease," says Adams. |
|"That could be a statistical blip, but coming after an unbroken string of increases, it may be significant." |
|The numbers from California may provide an argument against increased awareness and reporting as the sole cause of the jump in autism cases: If |
|the trend in California holds, that will seem to support the theory that increased vaccination, and specifically increased childhood |
|inoculations with vaccines containing mercury, is at least partly responsible for the reported rise in autism and other neurological disorders |
|(including ADD, ticking and hyperactivity) and in immune disorders in American children since 1989. The vaccination argument, which is waged |
|with intense conviction on both sides, was made in some detail by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in an article jointly published last June in Rolling |
|Stone and at . |
|Suspicion about vaccination as a cause of autism probably began with the stories, including that of one family interviewed for this story, of |
|children who developed immune-system problems and regressed into autism after an immunization made them sick. (The family in question asked not |
|to be identified, because talking about their experience in the past has provoked hate mail and angry phone calls. Anger against immunization |
|opponents seems to run as hot in the medical community as anti-vaccination feelings do among the parents of autistic children. As one observer |
|at a recent national scientific meeting on autism observed, "We're in a sort of frenzied period right now.") |
|Then there's the coincidence of the timing of a jump in childhood immunizations and the onset of what some people call the autism epidemic. |
|Autism has increased 15-fold in the U.S. since 1991. That was the year the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration recommended that three |
|additional vaccines, all preserved with thimerosal, a known neurotoxin, be given to young babies. (One of these vaccinations is administered |
|within 24 hours of birth.) In addition, the overall vaccination schedule doubled during roughly the same period. American preschoolers received |
|11 vaccinations each before 1989; in 1999, they received a total of 22. |
|Of course, many other things have changed during the last 17 years, but an appearance of concealment on the part of the CDC and FDA hasn't |
|helped reassure parents. In 2001, after reviewing an immediately embargoed 2000 study by the CDC of a possible connection between thimerosal and|
|autism, the FDA "urged" vaccine manufacturers to stop using thimerosal in childhood vaccines, and the mercury compound has been greatly reduced |
|in or eliminated from most vaccines since then (but not in flu vaccines given to pregnant women and young children). Existing stocks of |
|thimerosal-laden vaccines were used in this country through 2003, however. What remained was not destroyed, according to Kennedy, but was sold |
|off for use in the Third World, where there have been scattered reports of "outbreaks" of autism. |
|Many people who believe that the increase in childhood vaccinations accounts for the increase in autism argue that the drop in reported cases in|
|California is evidence for their position: Autism typically shows itself in the second and third year of life, and so a drop last year is what |
|you'd see several years after thimerosal was largely phased out, if it had been responsible. |
|California has banned thimerosal from all childhood vaccines, including the flu vaccine, beginning this July. The preservative is not necessary |
|for vaccines that are packaged as single doses, and some vaccines, such as measles-mumps-rubella, have never contained it. |
|While the CDC and FDA have moved steadily to reduce thimerosal since 2001, they have just as steadily denied seeing any link between it and |
|autism, and some observers, including Kennedy, have accused government agencies of concealing data to protect vaccine manufacturers from |
|possible litigation and to give them time to sell off stockpiles of mercury-laced product. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., who has an autistic |
|grandson, has accused the FDA and other public-health agencies of "institutional malfeasance for self-protection" and "misplaced protectionism |
|of the pharmaceutical industry." |
|Other members of Congress have reacted differently. Kennedy reports that the day after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a medical |
|doctor, attached a rider known as the "Eli Lilly Protection Act" to a 2002 homeland security bill, Lilly, a major vaccine manufacturer, |
|"contributed $10,000 to his campaign and bought 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism." Congress later repealed the measure, but early last |
|year, Frist attached another provision to an anti-terrorism bill "that would deny compensation to children suffering from vaccine-related brain |
|disorders." The prospect of thimerosal lawsuits understandably alarms the pharmaceutical industry, and Frist, according to Kennedy, has received|
|more than $800,000 in contributions from pharmaceutical companies. |
|James Adams, whose daughter was severely autistic when first diagnosed but who has improved with intensive intervention, including biomedical |
|treatments, concentrates on the research. |
|"The data is mixed, and more work needs to be done, but there are some small studies that suggest a connection between mercury toxicity and |
|autism. We are also trying to determine why some children are more vulnerable than others." |
|Adams himself has done several studies, one of which measured the amount of mercury in the baby teeth of autistic children compared to those of |
|normal children. He found three times as much mercury, on average, in the teeth of the autistic kids. |
|In another study, severely autistic children who took a medicine that pulls heavy metals out of the body--an FDA-approved treatment for |
|lead-poisoning--excreted three to six times as much mercury as did neurologically normal children. |
|"We also have indications that children who are autistic have a decreased normal ability to excrete mercury," says Adams. "They're genetically |
|more susceptible to damage from heavy-metal exposure." |
|And in the first-ever study of the effects of thimerosal exposure on baby animals, says Adams--incredibly, the study was done at Columbia in |
|2004, less than two years ago--two strains of mice were unaffected, while a third suffered profound neurological damage from exposure levels |
|consistent with those of an infant receiving vaccine preserved with thimerosal. |
|"These studies, including my own, need to be replicated," says Adams. "That's what I can say as a scientist. But I have very strong private |
|opinions about heavy-metal toxicity and autism." |
|Adams points out that other potential sources of mercury exposure for very young children include industrial pollution, amalgam fillings and |
|contaminated seafood. Thimerosal may not be the only culprit. |
|And yet, as one parent of an autistic child says, "You know, just on the face of it, injecting babies with mercury doesn't seem like a really |
|great idea. Where were the pediatricians?" |
| |
| |
[pic]
|4. Article D: |LEAKED TRANSCRIPTS, NEW DATA HIGHLIGHT PAPERBACK EDITION OF “EVIDENCE OF HARM” |
|Bestselling Book on Mercury and Autism Updated with New Science, Politics and Media Reports; Title Chosen as a “Reading Group Gold” Selection |
|for Winter 2006 |
|NEW YORK – The New York Times bestseller “Evidence of Harm – Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic, A Medical Controversy” ( St. Martin’s |
|Press, $14.95 ISBN: 0-312-326459-0 ), will be issued in PAPERBACK this February, with a new postscript that updates readers on the growing |
|controversy over the past year. |
|Evidence of Harm is the story of parents with autistic children who learn that their kids received levels of mercury in their vaccines far in |
|excess of Federal safety limits. They take on Big Business, Big Science and Big Government with a radical new theory on the cause, uncovering |
|compelling evidence that a mercury-based vaccine preservative, Thimerosal, could have played a role in the disease. Today, the parents and their|
|medical, scientific, legal, and political allies are getting closer to establishing their claim. |
|The paperback edition contains a year’s worth of new information, including: |
|Newly LEAKED TRANSCRIPTS suggesting US Government pressure on the |
|Institute of Medicine to reject an association between vaccines and autism. |
|Evidence showing that some IOM reviewers had unpublicized CONFLICTS OF |
|INTEREST with the government and drug industry. |
|Calls on Capitol Hill for a thimerosal INVESTIGATION, and new attempts to |
|access secretive vaccine safety data. |
|Recent thimerosal HEADLINES with news about Don Imus, Robert Kennedy, Jr., |
|Sen. Joe Lieberman, Sen. Chuck Hagel and others. |
|Newly published DATA showing that vaccine mercury accumulates in |
|the brain, which can cause the same brain swelling found in autistic people. |
|By most accounts, autism is now epidemic in the United States. In the 1990's, reported autism cases among American children began spiking, from |
|about 1 in 10,000 children in 1987 to a shocking 1 in 166 today. In this period, new shots containing Thimerosal were added to the nation's |
|already crowded vaccination schedule.In 1999, the FDA announced that children were being exposed to mercury at very young ages at levels far |
|exceeding federal regulations, but the public health establishment failed to take parental concerns about the impact seriously. Evidence of Harm|
|explores both sides of this issue, which has pitted families and their allies against the federal government, public health agencies, medical |
|academies, and powerful pharmaceutical giants. |
|A “READING GROUP GOLD” SELECTION |
|The paperback edition of Evidence of Harm has been selected as one of four Reading Group Gold titles for Winter 2006. This new program, being |
|launched by St. Martin’s/ Griffin, is designed to make reading group information for books accessible to consumers and booksellers. Each season,|
|a select number of Griffin trade paperbacks will have a medallion on the cover to denote them “Reading Group Gold” titles. |
|These outstanding titles are selected by an in-house committee of St. Martin’s Press/Griffin as the best reading group books of the season. They|
|will include additional material in the back of the books, including author interviews and reading group questions. More information about the |
|program will soon be available at: |
|MOVIE RIGHTS OPTIONED |
|Evidence of Harm has also been optioned by a rising MOVIE COMPANY: Los Angeles-based Participant Productions. Formed to produce films on |
|important current topics, Participant has released titles that earned strong buzz in 2005. Its movies were nominated for eight Golden Globe |
|Awards, including Best Drama for “Good Night and Good Luck,” Best Dramatic Actress (Charlize Theron) for “ North Country,” and Best Director |
|(George Clooney) for “Syriana.” Two respected producers have signed onto the Evidence of Harm project: Nick Wechsler, who recently produced “ |
|North Co untry ,” and Ross Bell, producer of “Fight Club.” |
|Meanwhile, author David Kirby has just been named “PERSON OF THE YEAR” by Spectrum, the nation’s largest and most influential autism magazine. |
|Kirby, who will appear on the cover of the February issue, will be honored by the magazine at a reception in Long Island, NY, this spring. |
|For more information, please contact: |
|Elizabeth Coxe , Publicist, St. Martin’s Press: 646-307-5563/ elizabeth.coxe@ |
|Vicki Lame , Publicity Assistant, St. Martin’s Press: 646-307-5553/ vicki.lame@ |
| |
| |
[pic]
|4. Article E: |Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Time for CDC to Come Clean |
|Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wed Mar 1, 12:10 AM ET |
|Correspondence newly obtained under the Freedom of Information Act raises troubling new questions about CDC's role in the Thimerosal scandal. |
|Thimerosal is the mercury-based vaccine preservative that has been linked to epidemics of neurological disorders, including autism, in American |
|children born after 1989. |
|Responding to scientific studies linking dangerous levels of mercury to a range of health disorders, the CDC in July 1999 recommended that the |
|nation's vaccine makers eliminate Thimerosal as a preservative, "as soon as possible." |
|But the newly released documents show that behind the scenes CDC was quietly discouraging Thimerosal's removal. In a July 1999 letter, vaccine |
|producer SmithKline Beecham tells CDC that it is ready to produce non-Thimerosal DTP (Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis) vaccines immediately and has|
|sufficient inventories to supply the entire U.S. market during the remainder of 1999 and the first half of 2000, by which time other vaccine |
|manufacturers would have their Thimerosal-free DTP vaccines on line. |
|Thimerosal-laden DTP vaccines containing 25 micrograms of mercury apiece were then being administered to American infants at two months, four |
|months and six months -- far exceeding EPA's recommended safe level for mercury. Had CDC accepted SmithKline's offer, it could have immediately |
|reduced the mercury exposures to vaccinated six-month-old children by 40%. |
|However, in November, CDC mysteriously sent a letter back rejecting SmithKline's offer. Then, on July 14, 2000 CDC published a deceptive press |
|release promising to require that all vaccines be Thimerosal-free as soon as "adequate supplies are available." This was a full 12 months after |
|the agency had denied SmithKline's proposal. |
|"If CDC were basing its decision on safety alone, it would have taken SmithKline up on its offer. That's a no-brainer," said a federal health |
|official who requested anonymity. "So there were other considerations beside safety that were guiding their decision making." |
|Among these "other considerations" were CDC's important concerns for the preservation of the vaccine program, a bureaucratic impulse for |
|self-preservation, and protecting the economic interests of its vaccine industry friends. |
|"Immediate withdrawal would send a strong message; 'We messed up!'" the health official told me. "And I don't think they wanted to send that |
|message to parents, the public or those considering legal action." |
|"There was also concern," says the federal official, "that an immediate withdrawal might discredit the international vaccine programs for which |
|CDC is an important partner." The World Health Organization has urged CDC against the banning of Thimerosal in U.S. vaccines since that |
|prohibition might discredit WHO's third world inoculation programs. WHO, with U.S. funding, is now injecting children in developing countries |
|with the same amounts of Thimerosal we were giving American kids at their highest exposures, but in a shorter time period. In May 2001, WHO |
|committed to "develop a strong advocacy campaign to support the ongoing use of Thimerosal." |
|But CDC insiders argue that CDC's primary concern was the economic impacts on its pharmaceutical industry partners. "The big consideration was |
|cost," says the federal health official. "A lot of CDC's friends in the vaccine industry had stockpiled Thimerosal-based vaccines. If they |
|couldn't sell them the costs would total in the tens of millions of dollars." |
|On July 14, 2000 CDC promised to complete the transition to Thimerosal-free vaccines for children by first quarter 2001. But, probably for the |
|reasons stated above, its commitment sometimes seems half-hearted. CDC continues to promote the use of Thimerosal in vaccines. The agency |
|continues to send its top spokesman Roger Bernier around the country to testify before state legislatures to derail state efforts to ban |
|Thimerosal in vaccines. Last week Bernier was testifying against a proposed Thimerosal ban in Maryland. |
|CDC continues to exert muscular efforts to derail studies of American cohorts -- the Amish, Christian Scientists, and home-schooled children -- |
|who were not exposed to Thimerosal vaccines. Preliminary studies of these groups indicate very low levels of the neurological disorders, |
|including autism, that have been associated with Thimerosal in vaccinated populations. |
|It's time for the CDC to come clean with the American public. Its tactics of deception and obfuscation are jeopardizing the credibility of the |
|entire vaccine program, and therefore posing an enormous danger to public health. |
|On a related note: `Til Death Do Us Part |
|By JB Handley- |
|March 2, 2006 |
| |
|I wept when I read RFK Jr's piece yesterday on the Huffington Post. CDC could have had DTP vaccines in the market as early as 1999 or 2000, |
|cutting mercury levels immediately in vaccines by 40% for young children. CDC chose not to. I wept for my autistic son, born in 2002. And, I |
|wept with rage for the unimaginable skin-saving behavior of a bunch of bureaucrats I've never met who, with their selfishness, completely |
|altered the course of my son and family's life. |
| |
|It's been a long time since I've cried. When my son was diagnosed with Autism, in July of 2004, I cried for a full month, for hours on end. Then|
|one day, I just stopped. It wasn't helping him, and there was work to do. Months later, to my astonishment, he began to get better. And better. |
|And better. Astonished? Hell, yes! You see, I put the "M" in mainstream. All this garbage about vaccines and autism was Hippy stuff, nothing |
|more. But, every time a test came back it matched what all these DAN! Doctors and Dr. Rimland kept telling us: my son was very, very sick, and |
|he needed medical treatment. |
| |
|It's hard for any rational person to understand how long the CDC will keep up this charade. I'll tell you what, with friends like Dan Olmsted, |
|David Kirby, Don & Deirdre Imus, Dan Burton, Dave Weldon, Carolyn Maloney, and RFK Jr., I know who I'm betting on. Dr. Offit, you're looking a |
|little lonely these days over there, as you wait to collect your royalty checks from your new vaccine. |
| |
|I know this is a very public discussion group. I know "moles" read what's here to see how we "anti-vaxers" are organizing ourselves. I thought |
|I'd let you know about who you're up against. |
| |
|First off, we're parents. And you, in covering your ass, have kidnapped our children's souls. In the wild, the consequence for what you've done |
|is obvious, but being civilized, we will get you with the violence of truth. You see, unlike other body-snatchers, you've made a number of |
|mistakes and left some very clear calling cards. You've left the measles virus in our children' guts, you've left mercury in their brains, and |
|you forgot about the parents who never vaccinated their children who will willingly help us compare autism rates. You also never realized, |
|because it's not your specialty, that autism is not only treatable, its reversible. You didn't take our children's souls, you just buried them. |
|They're still there, waiting to come out. |
| |
|Our kids are getting better. But, you don't want to know this. You sound an autism ALARM, we're documenting thousands of recoveries, but you |
|don't ever come and see? We're going to show you anyway. We're videotaping our kids, we're documenting the excretion of metals from their |
|delicate little bodies, and we're sharing our stories with every reporter in the free world. And, they're finally listening. You know why? |
|Because you snatched some kids in some very high places. And everyone's a parent first. |
| |
|The 8 million pound gorilla is awake. We're tens of thousands of parents unified to get our children medical treatment as soon as possible and |
|to make sure every parent understands the truth and understands your treachery. If you sit in your little cubicle, hoping we'll finally go away |
|because you paid for one more study trying to refute our position, you are sorely, sorely mistaken. You will have to kill us all to shut us up. |
|And while you've stood by and tried to take our children away, it's unlikely you could get us all before we get you. With truth. |
| |
|`til death do us part, CDC, `til death do us part. |
| |
| |
[pic]
|5. |TACA – Want to get involved? Join a new committee! |
|TACA is recruiting members for two new committees -- the Parent Advisory Committee and the TACA Fundraising Committee. |
|TACA Parent Advisory Committee will meet twice a year to review TACA's mission and programs to ensure we are meeting objectives and the needs of|
|the communities. The committee will evaluate current programs and make recommendations to the Board for new programs. This committee will also |
|be responsible for helping review and process applications for a new program, to be launched later this year, called Families in Crisis. |
|Committee Qualifications: 1) Must have a family member with autism 2) Be willing to commit the time needed for committee meetings and assigned |
|tasks 3) Have regular attendance at TACA meetings (at least 3 per year) and most importantly, 4) really want to help our children and families! |
|If you are interested in serving on the Parent Advisory Committee, please contact Lisa Ackerman at tacanow@. |
|TACA Fundraising Committee will meet four times per year and works to raise the funds that supports TACA's missions. The committee will help |
|develop and evaluate the fundraising plan, support fundraising events, help identify prospects, and assist us in creative ways to secure |
|donations that will enable us to do as much as we possibly can for families dealing with autism in California. |
|Committee Qualifications: 1) Must be enthusiastic!!! 2) Be willing to commit the time needed for committee meetings and assigned tasks 3) Have |
|regular attendance at TACA meetings (at least 3 per year) and most importantly, 4) really want to help our children and families! |
|If you are interested in serving on the Fundraising Committee, please contact Elizabeth Kilpatrick at ektaca@ |
|We want to hear from our members as to how we can better serve them. Please let us know if you are interested! Thank you! |
| |
| |
[pic]
|6. |TACA Surveys due! |
|In order to provide the seven TACA meeting locations with topics our members want to hear more about, we do annual surveys of interest. |
|We would like to hear from you. If you would like to participate in this survey you can in two ways: |
|at TACA meeting locations, you can pick up a survey form |
|Email tacanow@ for your own survey form to fill out and mail back to TACA. |
|Thanks for helping us provide relevant and important meeting topics for our members! |
| |
| |
[pic]
|7. |Vendor Announcements |
|McDonalds French Fries STATUS: |
|It appears McDonalds has reevaluated their other ingredients as well as trans fat ... |
| |
|French Fries: |
|Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavor (beef, wheat and dairy sources), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to preserve |
|natural color). Breading set in vegetable oil. Cooked in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (may contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil |
|and/or partially hydrogenated corn oil and/or partially hydrogenated canola oil and/or cottonseed oil and/or sunflower oil and/or corn oil). |
|Contains wheat and milk |
|ingredients. |
|Note: Some families have called McDonalds to complain and they have stated they have only changed the ingredients list due to new FDA |
|requirements. Then why are these ingredients listed if they are not in the product? It is important families know the ingredient list – maybe |
|try In-N-Out French fries as alternative. |
|FRANK’S LO CARB MARKET – has re-opened as LOS ALAMITOS NUTRITION |
|I'm very excited to let you know I've reopened the store at a new location. We are located in Los Alamitos on the border of Seal Beach. This |
|store carries many of the gluten free, casein free items our kids need. |
|Store info: |
|Los Alamitos Nutrition |
|4292 Katella Ave. |
|Los Alamitos Ca 90720 |
|(562)493-4105 |
| |
| |
[pic]
|8. |Books & Web sites |
|BOOK: |
|Evidence of Harm – by David Kirby - NOW IN PAPERBACK! |
|Web Link: |
|FAIR Autism Media has just posted a news clip originally aired Feb. 14, 2005, by Fox 5 News in New York... featuring the vaccine/autism |
|controversy and testimonies on BOTH sides of the issue from Dr. Mark & David Geier, Dr. Mady Hornig... and vaccine advocate Dr. Paul Offit. |
|This news piece stands out as one of the more excellent examples of autism-related journalism that isn't slanted with an industry bias. |
|If you would like to see it, visit: |
|BRAVO to Fair Autism Media for their excellent work on Autism and stories to help inspire and educate families affected by autism! |
| |
| |
[pic]
|9. |FUN ACTIVITIES: |
|Autism Awareness Night Sunday, March 12, 2006 |
|5PM @ The Arrowhead Pond- Anaheim Mighty Ducks vs. Phoenix Coyotes |
|Come help the Mighty Ducks raise awareness about autism and raise funds for research into treatments and a cure. There are special ticket prices|
|in three sections. A portion of the proceeds from all tickets purchased through |
|the phone number and form below, and the silent auction on the concourse that evening, will benefit the fight against autism. |
|Contact Sam Levitt with Cure Autism Now at (323) 549-0500, ext. 747 for more information. |
|Tickets are limited, so buy yours today!!! |
|[pic] |
|Partner Organizations: |
|[pic] [pic] |
|To order these special tickets over the phone, contact Kadi Sutherlin in the Ducks Ticket Office at (714) 940-2855. |
|You can also fill out the form below and return it to the Ducks to get your tickets. |
|- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|Opponent / |
|Date of Game |
|Plaza Main |
|2 nd-19th rows, behind goal |
|Terrace Main |
|Upper level, 4th Row Up |
|Terrace Value |
|Upper level, top 6 rows |
|TOTAL |
| |
|Phoneix Coyotes |
|Sun., Mar. 12th |
|5:00 p.m. |
|Autism Awareness Night |
|______ tickets |
|@ $75 ea. |
|(regularly $85) |
|______ tickets |
|@ $25 ea. |
|(regularly $32.50) |
|______ tickets |
|@ $12 ea. |
|(regularly $15) |
| |
| Plus $2 handling |
| |
|Name:___________________________Address:_____________________ |
|City: __________________________________Zip Code:_______________ |
|Phone:__________________________Email Address:_________________ |
|Method of Payment: £ Check (payable to: the Mighty Ducks) £ Visa £ MasterCard £ AMX |
|Card #:___________________________________ Expiration Date:___________ |
|Please return this portion of order form WITH PAYMENT to: |
|Mighty Ducks, Attn: Kadi Sutherlin, 2695 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, CA 92806 |
| |
| |
[pic]
|10. |Conferences |
|2006 OC WALK NOW |
|We are happy to announce the 2006 OC WALK NOW Co-Chairs. Diane Vitto and Patty Roberts have volunteered to Co-Chair the Orange County WALK this |
|year. They are two mothers who live in Rancho Santa Margarita who work together in Little League and are also very busy in other endeavors. I’m |
|sure many of you folks know them. In our 2004 and 2005 WALKS, we have raised over $307,000 in donations and know we will have another successful|
|year with Diane and Patty leading the WALK. |
|The WALK NOW 2006 is set for Saturday, October 14, at Hidden Valley, Irvine. The web page for the OC WALK NOW is up and running so you can start|
|registering your teams. |
|Sincerely, |
|Joanne and Harold Davies |
|(Grandma Jo) |
|2004 & 2005 WALK NOW Chairpersons |
|If you have any questions regarding the above, please do not hesitate to call me at 714-968-4667 or e-mail me at grandma.jo1015@ |
|[pic] |
| |
|The Listening Clinic, Sacramento |
|Open house & informational Seminar - The Tomatis Method program overview Advanced Therapies; the Interactive Metronome Research Findings Mar 8 |
|Sacramento no charge 3001 P Street, suite B, Sac., - Sharon sharon@ 916-448-1500 |
|[pic] |
|Foothill Autism Alliance, Inc. |
|Wednesday, March 8, 2006: Family Resource Meeting (PCDA) |
|Topic: "From Genetics to Mirror Neurons: Latest Research from UCLA & Cure Autism Now" |
|Speakers: |
|Mirella Dapretto, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigator, CPEA Imaging Project, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David |
|Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA & Clara Lajonchere, Ph.D., Program Director for the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE). |
|Address: |
|Pasadena Child Development Associates (PCDA) |
|620 North Lake Avenue, 2nd Floor Pasadena, CA 91101 (Just north of the 210 Freeway) |
|Schedule: |
|Networking from 7:00 - 7:30 PM, Featured speaker 7:30 to 9:30 PM (Family Resource Meetings are Free – Everyone Welcome!) |
|Check our Website for information about our Upcoming Events |
|[pic] |
|The Trends in Autism Conference is coming up March 11th and 12th |
| |
|Hilton Los Angeles/San Gabriel in San Gabriel, CA. Topics and speakers will be: |
|The Neurobiology of Autism--What's Different in the Brain? , Margaret L. Bauman, M.D. |
|Current Status of Genetic Research in Autism, Susan Santangelo, Sc.D. --Early Identification of Autism, Marian Sigman, Ph.D. |
|Early Behavior Markers of Autism, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, M.D., MSc, F.R.C.P.C. |
|Genetic and Metabolic Etiologies and Associations of Autism: Lessons and Provocations, Marvin Natowicz, M.D., Ph.D. |
|Overview of Sensory Integration, Anne Trecker, M.S., OTR/L |
|Alternative Means of Communication, Emily Rubin, MS, CCC-SLP |
|Autism and the Family Identity, Eustacia Cutler (Temple Grandin's mother) |
|Every Child Can Become a Success: A Realistic Goal for Parents and People with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jerry Newport |
|Plus, there will be a 90-minute question and answer session with a panel of autism specialists (comprised of most of the above speakers). |
| |
|This conference is in its fifth year out here but has been running successfully for many more years in Boston. The conference is being |
|presented by Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation in Pomona. |
|[pic] |
| |
|PICTURE EXCHANGE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM PRESENTATION: |
|Pyramid Educational Consultants is hosting The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) Training in San Diego, CA on March 13 th and 14 th |
|at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center. Dr. Andy Bondy, a co-developer of PECS, is going to be one of the presenters. |
|Interested participants can contact the Pyramid Office to register at 1-302-368-2515 or toll free 888-732-7462. |
|[pic] |
| |
|BERARD AUDITORY INTEGRATION TRAINING |
|This is not the “listening program” or “therapeutic listening” – we do not give you CD’s to take home. We offer Berard AIT, an individualized, |
|powerful, professionally supervised program. Berard AIT has over 30 years of scientific research and over 25 clinical studies documenting its |
|effectiveness as an educational and therapeutic intervention. |
|Berard AIT is a 10-day noninvasive auditory technique which may help an individual hear all frequencies more evenly, improve auditory |
|processing, and decrease hyper or hypo-sensitivity to specific environmental or speech sounds. AIT has been used successfully with individuals |
|with autism spectrum disorders, PDD, dyslexia, learning disabilities, hearing sensitivities, auditory processing challenges, attention deficit |
|disorders and behavior challenges. |
|T. Silverman, Training and Consultation has provided Berard AIT to families in communities throughout Southern California for 11 years. Our |
|staff is well trained professionally and has combined over 60 years of experience working with individuals with autism spectrum disorders and |
|developmental disabilities. We are happy to announce that we are planning an AIT session in Temecula in 2006. |
|Dates: March 24 through April 2, 2006 |
|Location: Stillpoint Center Vail Ranch Towne Square |
|32605 Highway 79 South, Suite 201, Temecula |
|Cost: $1400 if registration received before February 15, 2006 |
|$1500 if registration received after February 15, 2006 |
|For more information, or to register, contact: T. Silverman, Training and Consultation 262-569-7828 ait - Email: |
|terries@ |
|[pic] |
| |
|Gluten Free Casein Free Cooking CLASS ANNOUNCEMENT |
|Class Name: Cooking Gluten and Casein Free |
|Class Format: Demo |
|Price: $50 |
|Date: Saturday, March 18, 2006 |
|Time: 3:30 PM |
|Instructor: Lisa Ackerman |
|Join Lisa Ackerman, Executive Director of TACA (Talk About Curing Autism), as she discusses clever ways to cook for people with special food |
|needs. This informative Demo will show parents and chefs alike how to prepare gluten and casein free (GFCF) dishes for those with food allergies|
|and other food-related health concerns. |
|MENU: |
|Noah's Bread - Shepherd’s Pie - Chicken Chinese Stir Fry with |
|Vegetables and Rice Noodles - Macaroni and Cheese (it's really GFCF!) |
|Vanilla Cupcakes |
|To register and more information please see |
|Note: They are providing TACA a donation in lieu of a speaker’s fee. |
|[pic] |
|PEN Orange County presents - CHRISTINA ADAMS – |
|Author of “A REAL BOY” |
|In a reading and discussion of her new book |
|“A REAL BOY” |
|A True Story of Autism, Early Intervention and Recovery |
|(Published by Berkley/Penguin 2005) |
|Saturday, March 18, 2006, 1 PM |
|Irvine Heritage Park Regional Library |
|14361 Yale Avenue, Irvine, CA |
|Christina’s son Jonah was diagnosed as autistic at two years and nine months. Just a few years later, a doctor refused to believe a diagnosis of|
|autism could ever have been given to this happy, healthy boy. What happened? |
|This is the true story of how Jonah’s mother seized his window of opportunity for recovery. Her book details how she utilized a combination of |
|special diet, speech therapy, behavioral techniques and her own teaching methods to give her child a chance at a full life. |
|Christina Adams is a commentator for National Public Radio’s Day to Day. “A Real Boy” has been featured in The Washington Post, Tampa Tribune, |
|Booklist, Publisher Weekly, and CHILD Magazine, and her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Brain, Child, |
|Orange County Register, and other publications. She speaks to national and local audiences about writing, education, special needs and autism |
|spectrum disorders. She has an MFA in creative writing. Visit her website at . |
|Directions: |
|I-5 Freeway to Irvine: Exit Culver (R if coming North, L from south). Left on Walnut, left on Yale, left into parking lot. |
|405 Freeway to Irvine: Exit Culver (L if coming South, R from North). Go north on Culver to Walnut, right on Walnut, left on Yale, left on Yale,|
|left into parking lot. |
|[pic] |
|SAVE THE DATE!! March 25, 2006 |
|Involved Exceptional Parents’ Day |
|[pic] |
|Keynote Speaker: Mary Shea, Ph.D. Founder, Kids Included Together |
|Join us at the beautiful Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley for a day of fun and learning. Enjoy the largest resource fair in San Diego County! |
|For more information visit our website at: Or call 858-576-2966 |
|[pic] |
|Future Horizons Autism / Asperger's 2006 - |
|Southern California- Dr Tony Attwood |
|Speaker: Dr. Tony Attwood |
|Topic: Encouraging Social Understanding and Emotion Management |
|When: April 19, 2006 |
|Where: Embassy Suites Hotel Anaheim - South, 11767 Harbor Boulevard, Garden Grove, CA 92840, 714-539-3300 |
|Event Sponsor: Call Future Horizons, 1-800-489-0727 for further information. |
|Information from Sponsor: Further details are not yet available for this conference. |
|[pic] |
|Best Practices in Autism Treatment |
|Keynote address by Dr. Robert Hendren, Executive Director of the UC Davis MIND Institute as well as Rick Rollens, Co-founder of FEAT & the MIND |
|Institute. Attendees will learn from world renowned autism experts: Robert Koegel, Ph.D. ,Joanne Gerenser, Ph.D., Deborah L. Ross-Swain, |
|Ed.D.,CCC, Ilene S. Schwartz, Ph.D., Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., Martha Herbert, MD, Ph.D. Kara Dodds, MS., CCC, SLP, Robert Putnum, Ph.D., BCBA, |
|Michael Fabrizio, MA., BCBA and more. |
|Apr 27 - Apr 30 San Jose 2 or 4-day fees. |
|San Jose Marriott, 301 S. Market Street - Janet Lishman support@ 408-558-9404 |
|[pic] |
|“A PARENTAL GUIDE TO SENSORY INTEGRATION IN |
|OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY” |
|A PRACTICAL APPROACH |
| |
|Presented by: |
|Valeria Isaac, OTR/L |
|Sunayna Agrawal, MA, OTR/L |
| |
|This course is designed for parents of children with special sensory needs, and teachers concerned with facilitating growth and development |
|through sensory-based activities. |
| |
|The course will cover basic concepts of Occupational Therapy in the Pediatric field and Sensory Integration Theory, including suggested |
|activities to assist children with special sensory needs function in the school setting. |
| |
|SATURDAY APRIL 29, 2006 |
|9:00 am to 3:00 pm |
| |
|Knob Hill Community Center |
|320 Knob Hill |
|Redondo Beach, Ca 90277 |
|[pic] |
|SAVE THE DATE SAVE THE DATE SAVE THE DATE |
|ORANGE COUNTY LEARNING DISABILITIES ASSOCIATION |
|PRESENTS A SEMINAR |
|FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2006 , 8:am to 5:00pm |
|at the Newport Beach Radisson Hotel |
|4545 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach, CA 92660 |
|UNDERSTANDING THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR |
|Research has shown that people who have anti-social behavior many times exhibit brain dysfunction leading to extreme “dyslogic.” Many exhibit a|
|lack of insight and foresight, a lack of empathy for animals and people, a low anger threshold, poor abstract thinking and social skills, a lack|
|of fear and remorse, impulsivity, and an inability to realize the consequences of their actions or to learn from experience. |
|The more we learn about the brain dysfunction that underlies much delinquency and criminality, the more successful we will be in truly |
|rehabilitating offenders and preventing “at risk” children from turning to lives of crime.1 This seminar is concerned with aggression, conduct|
|disorder, anti-social behavior, delinquency, impulsivity, violence and psychopathy as well as learning disabilities and the role that behavioral|
|nutrition plays in the remediation of these types of behavior. |
|1 |
|Anti-social behavior is of concern to: |
|parents, teachers, school administrators, |
|mental health workers, and |
|judges, lawyers, police, probation officers, justice system personnel |
|Presenters: |
|William Walsh, Ph.D. biochemist, Executive Director of the Pfeiffer Treatment |
|Center, a non-profit medical center dedicated to the research and treatment of |
|biochemical imbalances, Warrenville, Ill. |
|Jeremy Kaslow, M.D., allergist , specialist in learning disabilities and autism, |
|private practice, Santa Ana, CA. |
|Stephen Shoenthaler, Ph.D., Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice, California |
|State University, Stanislaus, CA |
|Registration fee: $40 includes continental breakfast and lunch. Early registration is advised. Limited seating. For information: |
|949-646-0133, or 714-717-0021, or fax 949-642-7685 or oclda@ |
|[pic] |
|RDI: Going to the Heart of Autism 2-Day Workshop |
|Dr. Steve Gutstein dramatically illustrates the Relationship Development Intervention Program (RDI) via audience participation & hours of video |
|taken from actual intervention sessions. |
|Jun 9 - Jun 10 Sacramento 9am-4pm; $275 by May 26 TBA - Kristin Adiska adiska@ 866-378-6405 x 119 |
| |
| |
[pic]
|11. |Personal Note: |
|Thanks to everyone who wrote me a note about the personal update in the last TACA eNews. Many of my TACA friends (members & vendors) wrote me |
|special notes about how the words touched them. Some offered advice and counseling services. I appreciate every last note I received. Thank you.|
| |
|The personal note referenced can be found at: . |
|What folks need to understand is that often I wonder if my son Jeff and many kids in our TACA group had to go on this autism journey at all. |
|Sometimes I look back at video of my son and hear the dozens and dozens of stories each month about a child regressing into a world called |
|Autism after a period of normal development. Sometimes these feelings get the better of me and last month’s personal note demonstrated those raw|
|emotions and how they rear their ugly head. I appreciate the kind words of encouragement and support. I just wish that sometimes the mall map of|
|life did not say YOU ARE HERE. But I am and so are many of you reading this note. |
|For my family and many like mine - I love both my children so very much. We all do. They are amazing gifts for which I will be forever grateful.|
|I have learned more from them then I can express in words. I love their gifts and their strengths. I love them even when they are cranky. I love|
|them for who they are, how hard they work, and will what they become. But sometimes I look at Jeff and ask a simple question why him? That often|
|leads to why are there so many children life Jeff? Autism was once a rare disorder; now seen in every classroom and many homes. Many folks who |
|did not even know what autism was now have a personal connection – a nephew or niece, a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend or someone in their |
|family. Something strange is afoot with this epidemic. Hopefully the autism researchers and treatment heroes can help us identify the cause and |
|eventual treatment or cure for the many affected. |
|Which brings me to the news about the super basketball player put in the game during the last quarter, last game of the year, scoring a record |
|20 points…and some other sad news which is as an important parallel to this topic. What an incredible story about J ason McElwain out of New |
|York! (Please see the related stories in this eNews under GENERAL news.) His amazing record scoring basketball game was on the cover of many |
|newspapers and top news programs across the country! I celebrated out loud for his family and this incredible teen!! YES!! Many of us crave for |
|success stories like these. But what is sad is that the same day, the story broke about a little 8 year old boy, Jared McGuire, affected with |
|autism. He died just outside Palm Beach, Florida after authorities exhausted a search for this missing little boy – a parent’s worst nightmare. |
|He drowned in a drainage ditch just yards from his home. There is always a story that brings us to tears of happiness to celebrate for families |
|who achieve great success for their beloved children. What always seems to bring me back to reality is the sad stories and the families so lost |
|and looking for answers. Or the incredibly sad stories of an early death of someone affected by autism like Jared. It can be so overwhelming and|
|so tragic. I cannot imagine how the McGuire family feels, all the while the McElwain family is dealing with the new celebrity in their house. |
|This autism journey is one thing for sure -- a roller coaster of emotions. |
|All I wish is that our kids have the best outcome possible – that they stay safe, they find love, experience friendship and, for the United |
|States, that they become taxpayers and valuable members of our society. The tidal wave of children affected by autism is huge. The fear that |
|keeps me awake at night is what happens when parents of special needs children start aging out and leaving this earth? Who is going to love our |
|kids as much as we do with whatever is left over from our tireless efforts? A question that remains unanswered. One can only hope we don’t have |
|to go there… at least not today. |
|Hugs, thanks, and BE SAFE |
|Lisa A Jeff's mom |
|And Editor: Kim Palmer (thanks Kim!) |
| |
| |
[pic]
|Web Page for TACA Group: |
|check it out and let me know your thoughts at TACAnow@ |
|Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) provides general information of interest to the autism community. The information comes from a variety of |
|sources and TACA does not independently verify any of it. The views expressed herein are not necessarily TACA’s. TACA does not engage in |
|lobbying or other political activities.IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS, just respond and I will be happy to remove you from the list.|
|EMAIL ADDRESS IS: tacanow@. |
|P.S. TACA e-news is now sent to 2,282 people! |
|(This number represents families – 95%, and the rest are professionals.) |
| |
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.